With Barca’s selection as head coach, Ronald Koeman has become the fifth Dutch national strategy to lead the Nou Camp team. After the failed 2019/20 season, in addition to the disturbance of forces and controversy behind the scenes, many people have doubts about the success of the 57-year-old strategist.
Ronald Koeman is the fifth Dutch coach to lead Barca
However, there is a statistic that makes Barca rest assured in Koeman: Under the reign of the Dutch coaches, Barca always produced an owner of the noble title Golden Ball (Ballon d’Or, or Ball gold, awards organized by France Football magazine).
After that, Cruyff became Barca’s head coach (1988-1996). Not only did he bring back countless noble titles, he also contributed to “training” so the owner of the Golden Ball 1994: Hristo Stoichkov.
More interestingly, Romario – another member of the great “Dream Team Barca” built by Cruyff also won the title of FIFA World Player of the Year (born from 1991 to 2009, independent from Fruit golden ball) in 1994.
Louis Van Gaal, another elite Dutch football strategist, led Barca for two terms (1997-2000, 2002-2003). As a result, the No. 1 star at the Nou Camp at that time – Rivaldo excellently scored the double prize of the Golden Ball – FIFA’s best player in the world in 1999.
The last “flying Dutchman” as Barca head coach before Koeman was Frank Rijkaard. In 5 years leading the Nou Camp team (2003-2008), Rijkaard had the opportunity to work with Ronaldinho and helped the Brazilian football legend win 1 Golden Ball (2005), twice becoming FIFA’s Best Player ( 2004, 2005).
Will Messi become Barca’s next Golden Ball owner?
Besides Ronaldinho, the great legacy that Rijkaard left is certainly the decision to put Lionel Messi on the team 1. The Argentine superstar won 6 Golden Ball (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019), 1 the FIFA World Player award (2009) and 1 FIFA The Best (2019) award. However, Messi created these miracles under the Spanish coaches. They included Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde.
At the age of 33, Messi’s performance has somewhat decreased. Can Koeman help M10 win the 7th Golden Ball and possibly his last Golden Ball at Barca, because 2020/21 is also the last year in the contract between Messi and the Nou Camp team?